i just discovered two casts that blew my mind. the first, Gastropod, is an absolutely delightful podcast about food culture, science, history, and growth. The first episode, about the different ways your cutlery can impact how you eat, and even how your food tastes, is fabulous, and it goes up from there.

the second is called Switched on Pop, a really neat podcast that deconstructs pop songs, goes into the history and context of the lyrics and singers, and most interesting for me, actually breaks the songs down mechanically into what the components of music are, and how those each resonate with the listener. I listened to an ep about Despacito and i was just so taken away by the masterful discussion that it was like listening to the song itself, with me shouting at my radio in joy.

I've been obsessed with Switched on Pop for months and have listened to the complete archive. Nate and Charlie are the smartest, most genial guys. I wish what they do would become a whole podcast subgenre — their contemporary pop analysis is terrific, but some of my favorite episodes have been ones where they delve into the past and cover the theory behind, say, Linus and Lucy, or You Oughta Know.

I'm up and down with Switched on Pop. Some of their ideas sound like pop science to me and don't pass the smell test. They did a good job explaining why Despacito became the insane hit that it did, but their "Rule of 3's" episode just presented a bunch of minimalist songs and extrapolated some "well, actually"s that would preempt any counterexamples.

Gastropod is amazing. I need more applicable sciencey podcasts in my life.

They had a producer on as a guest once who told them that a lot of musical choices are just made off the cuff, out of instinct rather than a strict adherence to theory. They definitely overthink things sometimes. But in general I think they provide a good overview of music theory in a way that a novice like me can grasp. I never understood what the Roman numerals in chord progressions stood for until their episode about that Khaled song, for one.

Their real most unforgivable moment is hating on Careless Whisper during the saxophone episode.

TBQH I don't even understand what the idea of a "strict adherence to theory" is. Common practice? Basically nobody except really esoteric dudes and memers try to replicate Bach's methods that closely.

I think I phrased that incorrectly, I mean producers/songwriters who compose based explicitly, self-consciously on the principles of music theory. I think the SOP guys' point is that these principles are all emergent even when people write songs from their gut, and pop producers will slave for hours over a single drum hit for a reason.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam

Please tell me which episode this is so I can finally convince myself that I'm not a fraud as a composer.

I haven't listened to these podcasts in particular but in general online I do see far too much "this explains everything" type stuff... Like "the secret chord that'll make you a songwriting genius!!" and I'm like, what, the minor subdominant in a major key? Yeah, that's... certainly a thing that exists...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam

Please tell me which episode this is so I can finally convince myself that I'm not a fraud as a composer.

As a huge music theory nerd I can say that its main use is not to compose but to help you figure out what you've composed.

If you liked the ridiculous and hilarious Star Wars based Campaign podcast then the even more uproariously absurd Neo Scum podcast set in the Shadowrun universe will come with the highest recommendation.

By way of Switched On Pop, I just discovered a new music analysis podcast called Dissect. Each season, the host breaks down a single album track-by-track, exploring its historical, political, social, artistic, and personal context in minute detail, accompanied by a lot of spot-on musical and lyrical analysis.

So far the show has exclusively explored hip-hop albums, since the genre readily invites that sort of approach. The first season was Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly, and the second and current is Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I'm a few episodes into the Kendrick one, and I knew the album was a complex opus, but I had no idea just how much was going on. Highly recommended, and a lot less "throwing music theory concepts at a dartboard" than SOP.

The Night Vale guys are launching I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats this week, which is going to be similar podcast with seasons focused entirely on one Mountain Goats album, with the first being about All Hail West Texas. The thing is that it's going to be in the form of interviews with John Darnielle about each song, along with other guests.

Also, if you like the Every Story Ever segments on War Rocket Ajax but wish it was more focused, Battle of the Atom is a new podcast where the hosts rank 3 X-Men stories an episode on a master list of every X-Men story ever.

That guy that wrote that book about the history of EVE Online has more or less turned it into a podcast called Empires of EVE: The History Lectures. It's well produced, welcoming of non-EVE players and includes plenty of background and explanation of the game world as well as audio interviews with players involved. I expect you already know if you want to hear this or not.

That guy that wrote that book about the history of EVE Online has more or less turned it into a podcast called Empires of EVE: The History Lectures. It's well produced, welcoming of non-EVE players and includes plenty of background and explanation of the game world as well as audio interviews with players involved. I expect you already know if you want to hear this or not.

I have never played EVE Online for even one second (though oddly enough I did fix a bug for it almost 10 years ago) and yet I want to hear this podcast SO MUCH

I am enjoying Talking Simpsons, but there is no getting around Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert are now doing a podcast full time that will run out of great/good episodes to cover in a years time. I would rather them just stop at Behind The Laughter, which is possibly being too generous for when the show becomes unwatchable, (though, it is a great episode) than either hate watch the 2000's era or pretend to like them to keep the show going.

Also, if you like the Every Story Ever segments on War Rocket Ajax but wish it was more focused, Battle of the Atom is a new podcast where the hosts rank 3 X-Men stories an episode on a master list of every X-Men story ever.

That guy that wrote that book about the history of EVE Online has more or less turned it into a podcast called Empires of EVE: The History Lectures. It's well produced, welcoming of non-EVE players and includes plenty of background and explanation of the game world as well as audio interviews with players involved. I expect you already know if you want to hear this or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by krelbel

I have never played EVE Online for even one second (though oddly enough I did fix a bug for it almost 10 years ago) and yet I want to hear this podcast SO MUCH

(unless somebody knows of a convenient way to listen to soundcloud podcasts on iOS? I downloaded the soundcloud app, but I see no way to download the podcast on wifi to listen to it later while driving / to remember where I left off since 100% of my podcast listening time is spent in short increments while driving around, both of which appear to be impossible for soundcloud-only podcasts like this? unless I'm missing something)

It's also on iTunes, which means you should be able to get it through the Podcasts app on your iPhone. Here's the link.

No idea why I just linked the SoundCloud up there. I couldn't imagine a podcast just being on one platform. Promoting a podcast is hard enough without limiting access like that.

Got it, thanks. Searching for it in Downcast didn't work when I checked a few days ago, but either they've added it since then or I mistyped it or something, because I was able to subscribe to it just fine now. Yay!